I Title : Government Scholars : Effects to the parents in sending their

learners in the school as one of the grantee of Pantawid Pamilyang

Pilipino Program (4P’s)

II Introduction:

Poverty is one of the major problems that hindered the right to

education. Crossman (2018) defined poverty as a social condition that is
characterized by the lack of resources necessary for basic survival or
necessary to meet a certain minimum level of living standards expected for
the place where one lives.The Philippine government, through the 4Ps,
provides conditional cash grants to the marginalized or to the “poorest of the
poor” to improve the health, nutrition, and the education of children aged 0 to
18 (Reyes et al., 2013). The program is patterned after the conditional cash
transfer (CCT) schemes in Latin American and African countries, which have
lifted millions of people around the world from poverty (Raquiza, 2018;
Fiszbein, et al., 2009).

Same with most of the Conditional Cash Transfer Programs being

implemented in different countries, it is among the targets of the Philippine
4Ps to break the cycle of poverty and address the needs of the marginalized
by supplementing the household beneficiaries’ financial resource through the
cash grant. The 4Ps is considered as the largest social protection program in
the Philippines with the widest coverage of the marginalized households
(Department of Social Welfare and Development, 2009). The Department of
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the government agency tasked
to spearhead the selection of the grantees and the provision of cash grants to
eligible beneficiaries (Reyes et al., 2013) who have affirmed that they will
abide to, and satisfy all the conditions. These include regular health check-
ups for pregnant women and children aged 0 to 5; deworming of school
children aged 6 to 14 twice a year; enrolment of children in daycare,
elementary, and secondary schools with at least 85% class attendance
(Fernandez and Olfindo, 2011). Aside from these, the parent-beneficiaries are
required to attend mother’s class and family development sessions designed
to enhance their skills and understanding on core family values and parental
responsibilities, and to encourage them to be involved in community activities
(Mangahas et al., 2018).

The provision of the cash grant is expected to permit children from

family-beneficiaries to finish primary or secondary schooling and therefore find
decent jobs that will inhibit the passing of poverty to the next generation.
There are also studies which attests to the positive effect of social programs
including 4Ps to the academic performance and in minimizing the dropout rate
of student-beneficiaries in both the primary and secondary schools in the
other countries and in the Philippines (Raymundo, 2007; Reyes et al., 2015;
Harouman, 2012).

The researcher conduct this to know the effects of the parents being
one of the beneficiaries of the 4 P’s Program.

III Cause and Effects

People in poverty typically experience persistent hunger or starvation,

inadequate or absent education and health care, and are usually alienated
from mainstream society.Because of poverty, many families are left deprived
of their basic needs. The children are forced to stop going to school to help
their families. With this as the main ground, the Philippine government
initiated a program called the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) to
address poverty in response to the country’s commitment to the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs).

The study area is at Milagros Elementary School, Barangay Milagros,

Esperanza, Agusan del Sur. At present, the population of the school grew to
three hundred thirty seven (337) pupils, one school head and eleven
permanent teachers. The school have one hundred four (104) Pantawid
Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4 P’s) beneficiaries.

The researcher ask permission to the six (6) families that choosen to
be part of the study.

Table 1

Family How many How many Grade level Age

children they Children of Children
have? are member of
member in 4P’s
4P’s?
Dianal Family 3 2  Grade 6  12
 Grade 6  12
Pasaporte Family 5 3  Grade 3  9
 Grade 7  13
 Grade 9  15
Somil Family 9 3  Grade 1  7
 Grade 2  9
 Grade 4  11
Balili Family 5 1  Grade 3  9
Manding Family 4 2  Grade 2  8
 Grade 4  10
Veloz Family 5 1  Grade 1  7

The respondents’ answer on the first part of the questionnaire revealed

that the six (6) household beneficiaries have an average of 3 to 9 children..
This can be considered a large family and may likely affect the well-being of
the members given the socio-economic status of the family-beneficiaries.
Argys and Averette (2015) in their study suggest the inverse relationship
between family incomes or socio-economic status and family size particularly,
the increased educational attainment among children belonging to smaller
families.

Table 2
 Family Source of Income Status of Income
Dianal Family Farming Seasonal
Pasaporte Family Farming Seasonal
Somil Family Farming Seasonal
Balili Family Farming Seasonal
Manding Family Farming Seasonal
Veloz Family Small scale Business Seasonal

Table 2 shows that the families are only relying on farming and small
scale business and they have no stable job to sustain their daily needs.

Figure 1

Effect on Financial Burdens of Parents

8

Financial
0 Burdens are Minimized Financial Burdens are not Minimized

.
 Figure 1 shows that four (4) Families agreed that because of the
grant, they now have lesser financial worries or burden. Because of the grant,
they now have the means to buy school supplies. Others, or two (2) families
said that the grant did not minimized their financial burdens since portions of
the grant are still used for the purchase of medicines and necessities of other
family members.
To sum up, the main problem of the parents are having no stable
income for their daily needs, many mouth to be feed or having a big family.

IV Recommendations

Based on the findings and conclusions, the researcher formulated the

following recommendations ;

 The DSWD and the local government units should intensify the
implementation and the scope of the livelihood programs to serve as
additional source of income for family-beneficiaries.

 The DSWD must conduct seminars of how Family Planning is

important.

 The teacher must promote and inculcate to the learners as well as

the parents of how education is very important.
V References

Argys, L., & Averette, S. (2015). The Effect of Family Size on Education: New
Evidence from
China’s One Child Policy; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Discussion
Paper No. 9196

(Reyes et al., 2013).

Department of Social Welfare and Development (2009). Operations Manual
for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (2011). National Household
Targeting
System for Poverty Reduction; Retrieved from http:// nhts.dswd.gov.ph/

(Raquiza, 2018; Fiszbein, et al., 2009).